Leeds Paediatric ECMC

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Leeds Paediatric ECMC has wide experience of first-in-man and proof-of-principle early clinical trials of small molecules and biotherapies, both as single agents and in combination.

The specific aims of the Leeds ECMC are to:

increase trial activity through the Clinical Research Facility

deliver a diverse programme of translational research for the benefit of patients with cancer

improve patient outcomes through the integration of pathology into clinical trials

support clinical trials through our GCLP pharmacokinetics laboratory

exploit new imaging and radiotherapy facilities

develop new diagnostic tests

The Paediatric Team

The Leeds paediatric ECMC team is based at Leeds Children’s Hospital, on the Leeds General Infirmary site. We are an established principal treatment centre (PTC) for paediatric oncology and haematology and we have a leading teenage and young adult service for patients age 13 -25 years.

Leeds has a long history of treating children in early phase clinical trials and is a member of the European network of early phase clinical trial centres (ITCC). The paediatric oncology research teams are embedded within the Leeds Children’s Hospital Clinical Research Team, promoting shared knowledge and best practice and ensuring clinical research care is delivered to a high quality by staff with appropriate skills. The team also works collaboratively with the adult oncology research teams, particularly for any trials which recruit patients across the age ranges.

The paediatric ECMC team has a close working relationship with other principal treatment centres in Northern England and the paediatric ECMC centres in Manchester and Liverpool and is supported by the relevant NIHR clinical research networks to facilitate access of early phase clinical trials to all patients in the north across the three ECMC centres.

There are eight consultants some of whom lead national or European clinical trials, three of whom are University of Leeds and University of York academics. The department has close links with basic science and translational research teams in University of Leeds (Candlelighter’s laboratory, Brain Tumour laboratory) and the Epidemiology and Health Services Research Group.

Martin is a paediatric oncologist at Leeds Children's Hospital who treats children and teenagers with a range of tumours including brain tumours. His areas of interest are neuroblastoma, early phase clinical trials and brain tumours.

Martin is the UK lead for the current European high risk neuroblastoma clinical trial in the UK, and he manages the portfolio of early phase clincal trials for paediatric oncology patients in Leeds. These trials are mainly for patients with relapsed tumours where standard treatments have failed and patients and parents are wanting to try more experimental treatments.

He is one of the paediatric oncologists who specialises in the treatment of children and teenagers with brain tumours.

Scientific Team

Oncolytic viruses are good candidates for investigating new treatments as they preferentially replicate in, and kill cancerous cells. Such viruses target and ‘invade’ tumour cells, multiplying inside the invaded cell until it bursts and is destroyed. They can also be primed with anti-cancer drugs to boost their destructive potential as they home in on tumour cells.

Researchers at the Leeds ECMC are investigating whether these cancer-killing or ‘oncolytic’ viruses can reach tumours in the brain even if they are injected into the bloodstream elsewhere. If they can breach the blood/brain barrier, it would represent a significant advance in treating tumours that are notoriously hard to reach.

The early phase trial of Reolysin ® in brain tumour patients led by Dr Adel Jebar and the team at the Leeds ECMC has demonstrated that this oncolytic virus can indeed pass the blood-brain barrier which shows potential to effectively deliver treatment to difficult-to-reach glioblastomas.

In two trials using administration of the oncolytic virus directly to the tumour in gliomas and recurrent brain tumours, treatment has been well tolerated, with early signs of efficacy.

This study is funded by the Brain Tumour Charity. Watch Professor Susan Short talk to their team about the study in this video.

The Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre initiative is jointly funded by Cancer Research UK, the National Institute for Health Research in England and the Departments of Health for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.